Deliverable D2.3 - Final design of Platforms and Networks solutions

TrialsNet focuses on deploying large-scale trials integrating a set of innovative Beyond 5G (B5G) technologies and applications. These applications spawn across different cutting-edge solutions, including robotics, metaverse, massive twinning and Internet of Sense in the context of the three different domains of (i) Infrastructure, Transportation, Safety and Security, (ii) eHealth & Emergency, and (iii) Culture, Tourism & Entertainment. Through it trials activities, and for each proposed use case (UC), TrialsNet is going to collect both quantitative and qualitative results of the users’ experience which will be evaluated through proper methodologies and processes aiming at (i) elaborate on the potential limitations of the current network technologies in order to derive the requirements for the next mobile network generation and (ii) understand the level of acceptance of the proposed applications by the users also to reinforce the current B5G ecosystem.

In the above context, Work Package 2 (WP2) focuses on developing the platform and network solutions foundational to WP3, WP4, and WP5, which define and implement the use cases. The WP2 delivers the computing and network infrastructure, along with integration and security guidelines, ensuring secure and efficient trial execution while meeting the requirements of the other technical WPs. Requirements have been translated in first design of the platform and network solutions described in D2.1 “Preliminary design aspects for Platforms and Networks solutions”, then updated after the first cycle of development activities in D2.2 “Intermediate design of Platforms and Networks solutions”, integrating the feedbacks received from the technical WPs. The technologies deployed by WP2 are focused on network features that go beyond the Baseline 5G Technology (Bs5G) and provide a set of advanced functionalities, namely Advanced 5G Technology (A5G), as described in D2.1.

Moreover, WP2 has established a strong synergy with WP6 from the very beginning of the project, initially to define relevant infrastructure and network KPIs, and subsequently to provide the technologies necessary for measuring the performance of the infrastructures during the trial activities. WP2 is also interacting with WP7, as Open Call projects uses or extends the currently available infrastructures, as described in Section 3.

The project’s trials are being conducted in the four clusters located in Italy, Spain, Romania, and Greece. Regarding this aspect, it should be highlighted that even if the clusters have been conceived has independent infrastructures to provide a more flexible set of solutions to accommodate the specific requirements coming from the different use cases as well as the Open Call sub-projects, synergies between them are not precluded and have been created in the context of different activities. For example, UC6 “Mass Casualty Incident (MCI) and Emergency Rescue in Populated Area” is going to be integrated and experimented in two different infrastructures (i.e., the Greek cluster and the Madrid infrastructure within the Spanish cluster). Another example is the Horizontal innovation related to the Zero-touch Server Management (ZSM) that has been implemented in the Belgium experimental facility as well as the Iasi infrastructure.

The Italian cluster involves two trial sites, i.e., the Turin site and the Pisa site. The Turin site relies on the TIM 5G commercial network based on a 3GPP Rel-15 Non Standalone (NSA) deployment, with applications running on top of a virtualized infrastructure running at the CNIT premises. Service provisioning is managed by an innovative E2E orchestration solution provided by Nextworks, enabling the possibility to easily scale concurrent services in real/time during the (large scale) trials. The Pisa site instead spawns across the CNR campus in Pisa, the Fondazione Monasterio hospital [3] in Massa and the Ericsson’s 5G laboratory in Genova, where a mmWave private network has been setup from scratch and where pre-trial tests were also conducted in the first phase of the project. Services and 5G network slices are orchestrated by the Ericsson Orchestrator, a system to manage and automate the lifecycle of applications and network resources, integrated with a distributed computing infrastructure from the Edge to the Cloud.

The Spanish cluster is located in Madrid, specifically within the 5Tonic [4] 5G laboratory. It relies on a 3GPP Rel-17 deployment, supporting A5G capabilities that provide the performances that are required to run the use cases. Once the pre-trial phase will be completed, a private network will be deployed at the WiZing Centre where the use cases will be trialled in a real-file environment during a basketball match. For this purpose, the network provided by Ericsson will consist in user plane (UP) and control plane (CP) installed in Leganes, where the actual applications run, while the Radio Access Network (RAN) at the WiZing Centre will be based on a 5G Standalone (SA) mmWave deployment, as the first full standalone 5G deployment over the 26GHz band in Europe. The proposed network solution is able to ensure high-speed as well as low-latency connectivity even in demanding environments. The network's ability to handle heavy uplink traffic for multiple devices, including cameras, robots, and wearables, while optimizing coverage with sector-specific antenna placement, is a crucial feature for the real-time applications implemented by the use cases.

The Romanian cluster is composed by three different sites: in Iasi, two different deployments (outdoor 5G NSA and indoor 5G SA) are provided by Orange, utilizing their 5G commercial network. Pre-trial activities are conducted in Bucharest and in Antwerp (in Belgium), where the A5G technology of Zero-touch Service Management (ZSM) framework developed by IMEC and Nextworks is tested before being implement over the infrastructure in Iasi. The Romanian cluster integrates 5G SA and NSA hybrid network solutions, Edge Computing, and video analytics. The UC1 “Smart Crowd Monitoring” and UC4 “Smart Traffic Management” benefit from a robust design based on both Bucharest and Iasi 5G Labs’ resources and an outdoor 5G coverage in the trials’ locations. A key innovation is the deployment of a 5G SA local UPF and Edge Computing servers at the Iasi 5G Lab datacenter, providing low-latency video analytics. This architecture also includes a dedicated URLLC slice ensuring prioritized latency of around 8 ms, crucial for real-time applications. The successful activation of 5G SA and NSA hybrid mode and initial field tests in the Iasi area confirm the system’s ability to handle real-time traffic, with high uplink and downlink performances.

The Greek cluster involves several locations in Athens, including public venues and the Athens International Airport facilities which are covered by a 5G commercial network. In addition, WINGS provides an experimental network infrastructure, integrating a private 3GPP Rel-15 NSA deployment with distributed cloud and Edge infrastructures with A5G capabilities, which are used to develop and test the use cases’ applications before the actual deployment during the trial phase.

This deliverable presents the results of the WP2 activities carried out since the previous document D2.1. In addition to the infrastructure design and implementation activities, this document outlines how the different hardware and software solutions have been integrated to build the actual infrastructures. Almost all the platform and network solutions in each cluster have reached the level of readiness to host the project’s trial activities as well as the Open Call projects. At time of writing this document, the Turin site, within the Italian cluster, has already hosted the trials of UC5 “Control Room in Metaverse” and UC12 “City Parks in Metaverse”.

A following section of this document is dedicated to the TrialsNet’s infrastructure extension through the Open Call. Thanks to the onboarding of 24 sub-projects, new use cases as well as new platform and network solutions have been integrated in the TrialsNet ecosystem, based on the categorization into Option 1 (i.e., new use cases or enhancements of existing ones implemented over the TrialsNet’s infrastructures) and Option 2 (i.e., new use cases implemented over new infrastructures) sub-projects. A description of the sub-projects’ infrastructures is provided.

The deliverable also reports on the security aspects that have been considered in the context of the infrastructures deployed by the project. For this reason, specific activities have been addressed to ensure that the platforms, networks solutions, and devices meet all the requirements in terms of security. In particular, security involves all the measures and strategies to protect information systems as well as the humans that interact with them during the trial phases. This document presents, in a dedicated section, how information systems, networks, and data have been protected from unauthorized access and from other types of threats. Among them, cloud and virtualization security outlines how services exposed through public endpoints are kept protected from external threats; Edge and far Edge security describes the protection of devices installed closer to the real users (like CPEs and IoT devices); network security ensures that the information that flows towards 5G devices meet all the integrity and confidentiality requirements; finally, trial security ensure that the actual users can safely interact with platform and devices.

A dedicated section is then dedicated to describe the updates on the activities on the TrialsNet innovations which, as in D2.1 and D2.2 have been categorized into Vertical and Horizontal innovations. Horizontal innovations are related to transversal B5G/6G functionalities such as ZSM. Vertical innovations instead are related to specific UCs, for example, automatic orchestration of network slice resources. The project has made advancements through both Horizontal and Vertical innovations. Key achievements include the development of a ZSM framework that enables cross-domain integration, automation, and real-time decision-making across various network infrastructures. Additionally, energy-aware applications for B5G/6G networks have been further developed. Vertical innovations include AI-driven solutions for diagnostics and resource efficiency, particularly in infrastructure management and crowd monitoring. In this context, the project finalized the design of an automatic orchestration system for network slices, ensuring end-to-end QoS.

Finally, this deliverable presents updates on the sustainability solutions from the infrastructure perspective introduced by the project, focusing on self-sustainable energy harvesting, energy utilization, and energy-aware application design. It discusses the development of an energy sustainability model for self-sufficient systems, incorporating renewable energy sources such as photovoltaic panels and energy storage. The model evaluates performance metrics, sustainability targets, and cost constraints to ensure optimal system design. Additionally, the document explores the integration of energy-aware applications within the ZSM framework, aiming to optimize energy consumption in 5G and future 6G applications. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the sustainability solutions introduced by the project, initial KPIs have been identified based on the work performed in the context of WP6.